Download (PDF 2.56 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/44305.pdf
Abstract
Managers in southern Nevada are challenged with determining appropriate goals and objectives and developing viable approaches for maintaining and restoring sustainable ecosystems in a time of rapid socio-ecological and environmental change. Sustainable or “healthy” ecosystems supply clean air, water and habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals. As described in Chapter 1, sustainable ecosystems retain characteristic processes like hydrologic flux and storage, geomorphic processes, biogeochemical cycling and storage, biological activity and productivity, and population regeneration and reproduction over the normal cycle of disturbance events (modified from Chapin and others 1996 and Christensen and others 1996). Ecological restoration of stressed or disturbed ecosystems is an integral part of managing for sustainable ecosystems. The Society for Ecological Restoration International (SERI) defines ecological restoration as the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed (SERI 2004).
Parent Publication
Keywords
Mojave,
Great Basin,
anthropogenic disturbance,
climate change,
invasive species,
altered fire regimes,
water resources,
species of conservation concern,
restoration,
heritage resources,
recreation,
ecosystem resilience,
science-based management
Citation
Chambers, Jeanne C.; Pendleton, Burton K.; Sada, Donald W.; Ostoja, Steven M.; Brooks, Matthew L. 2013. Maintaining and restoring sustainable ecosystems in southern Nevada [Chapter 7]. In: Chambers, Jeanne C.; Brooks, Matthew L.; Pendleton, Burton K.; Raish, Carol B., eds. The Southern Nevada Agency Partnership Science and Research Synthesis: Science to support land management in Southern Nevada. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-303. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 125-154.
